The Contested Idea of South Africa

"This is a powerful compilation of perspectives that explores the complexities of South Africa. South Africa has a contested history, which exists in tandem with the deep fissures still present in society and a host of new dynamics to navigate. The Contested Idea of South Africa analyses these complexities through a critical lens and provides a valuable contribution to understanding the transformation to a post-colonial state and the struggles that inevitably arise from this. The contributions traverse the genealogy of South Africa, the various actors who have conceptualised the current notion of South Africa alongside concepts such as race, ethnicity, gender amongst others. This book is an important reflection on forging an identity within the confines of a contested state while positing tangible solutions."—Professor Tshilidzi Marwala, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, University of Johannesburg

"This book is a timely scholarly contribution that illuminates the formation of racial identities as imagined communities in South Africa and dissects the role of ideas, intellectuals, and social movements in shaping or disrupting the project of identity formation. These collected essays are set against the conceptual frames of decoloniality. The authors place the idea of a South African nation under critical scrutiny, especially in light of the continuing patterns of white privilege and black cultural and economic exclusion." – Professor Mzukisi Qobo, Head: Wits School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand

"This book covers voluminous research with painstakingly presented factual, historical, imagistic and poetic ideation on the complex subject of the contestations on the idea of the identity of South Africa and being South African. It debates, questions and examines with patience the myriad topic of overlapping histories whose prism-centre is hinged on colonialism, dispossession, liberation, identity and self-definition.

In a four-part structure the complex themes and the proponents of the ideas that have defined South Africa’s being, the book displays some of the delicate subjects like ongoing colonialism of the "white"stans which was predicated on the colonial framework of divide, conquer by killing and stealing and self-appropriate to create the Bantustan ideology; it brings to the fore issues of the Tutu-Rainbow Nation and the Mbeki African Renaissance—which all point to the complex multifaceted idea of what we call South Africa as it encapsulates race, culture, ethnicity, language, knowledge, class, gender and generation spatial identity; cultural expression as an identity marker.

This book faithfully reflects the subject of identity and idea of South Africa as a complex amalgam of multidimensional themes. The skill of bringing together such talent and depth of research is laudable. This is worth a read." – Professor Zodwa Motsa, University of South Africa